'They want to do well and they feel the pressure'

Freddie Ljungberg was understandably disappointed after we were beaten by Brighton at Emirates Stadium on Thursday night.

Afterwards, our interim head coach faced the media and discussed the performance, our confidence levels and more.

Read on for a full transcript:

on the defeat...

We're disappointed to lose at home. The main thing is we didn't show up in the first half. We were very passive and we had a chat at half-time, made a tactical change and all of a sudden we looked like a team. For 20 minutes or so we really pushed them, scored goals and thought we could win the game, but VAR was correct. That's how we have to play the whole game. I said to the players that you can’t give away a whole half to any team in the Premier League. That's what we need to learn from.

on how to change the mood...

That's the tough part. They look very short on confidence. In the first half they were scared to get the ball and a bit scored to move, they were just standing still. That’s something we need to talk about. They need to have a win, we need to dig out a win and get them some confidence. They can do it because they showed it in the beginning of the second half and they did it really well for 20 minutes. It’s hard to say that when you lose at home, but they were very good in that little spell.

on the nervousness in the crowd...

It's obvious that nervousness from a crowd can affect footballers, it doesn’t matter what quality you have. They're human beings like everyone else, they want to do well and they feel the pressure. That’s something we need to work on and I feel like if we just dig out a win, we can get there. They showed it in the second half.

on transitions in defence...

Like I said against Norwich, if you score the first goal you don’t have to chase the game, you don’t have to open up as much because you can control the game so that’s something that, in my opinion, we need to change that a little bit. We won the balls but you're right, when they ran at us it often ends with a shot on target. We've had one training session but we'll keep on working.

on how much of a job he's got...

It's never easy when you sack a manager and you're low on confidence. We started really well at Norwich. We started the second half really well and I was sure we were going to win the game and get going again. We get a sucker punch on a counter or as they play down one side. It's hard to take but we keep plugging away.

on the table...

[The result] doesn't change our position but hopefully we can change that quickly.

on the gap to top four...

I know of the gap but all we can do is work.

on whether the club will benefit from a permanent appointment...

It's up to the club and what they want to do. There’s nothing I can get involved with I said I love this football club and I’ll help them with whatever they need help with and it’s up to them to make a decision.

on Aubameyang coming off temporarily...

I actually don’t know [why] but he ran off and then he came back three minutes later. Maybe you should ask him about it but if you feel bad, you feel bad, there’s nothing we can change.